Good Morning!
I wasn't sure how to introduce Lisa and I to the forum. Please forgive me if this is not the correct way of doing it!
Lisa and I are new to Island Packet and cruising sailboats. Actually, it's been 30+ years since we boated together. We started our married life in Englewood, Florida in a house with dock and davits on Oyster Creek with access to Lemon Bay and Gulf. We began our boating journey with a 20' Sportcraft center console, quickly moving to a 25' Wellcraft Coastal. As a kid, my father and I sailed Bonita and Roy Greene dinghys, but we have never sailed anything larger. In Florida, at the time I was working in marine boat sales and service and in 1990 the retail boat industry was aground given the recession. We sold our house our boat, moved, had a child, then another child and then moved from Florida to central Ohio. Since then, we've lived in the Midwest, now in Plymouth, MI (Metro-Detroit area). This summer we cruised on a 50' FP Cat in SVG. Wow. We got bit, hard, the sailing bug. By July 7th, we started searching for a "starter" cat and on day one of our search, we found a 1997 IP 35 Packet Cat for sale in Coral Gables, FL. We kept looking, comparing Prout, IP and others. We couldn't find another layout or boat as nice as the first boat we found: S/V Imagine. By September 28th, we owned the boat. At the moment, we are in cold Michigan and S/V Leeway is behind a private residence in Ft. Lauderdale. In two weeks we travel to Ft. Lauderdale and plan to take and finish a weeks' sailing school on our boat (ASA Basic, Coastal Cruising, Catamaran, Bare Boat and Navigation); at which time, we'll ship the boat to Saugatuck, MI where we will keep the boat. Anxious to cruise Lake Michigan and eventually more -- until which time we retire and want to sail warmer waters! We plan to spend most weekends this Great Lakes sailing season, Thursday nights to Monday nights living on Leeway.
Would love to connect and learn from the members of this forum, here virtually, or on the west coast of Michigan!
